The skin of the human being, for example, is the largest organ and comprises about one-sixth of the total body weight. It protects the human being from ultraviolet rays; from mechanical, chemical and thermal injuries; from bacterial invasions and from dehydration and water penetration.
The skin is also the largest sensory organ, and contains nerve endings for touch, pain, pressure and temperature.
The three main layers of the skin comprise the epidermis, which is dry dead skin, nonvascular; the dermis, which is flexible, elastic and vascular tissue; and the subcutaneous, which is mostly fatty tissues.
The layers of the epidermis comprise the stratum corneum, which is a horny layer, made up of flattened dead cells; the stratum lucidum, which is a thin homogeneous layer; the stratum grandulosum which are granules effecting keratinization; the stratum spinosum, which are cells in the growing process; and the stratum germinativum, which is where new cells are produced and is also the location of melanin, a dark pigment.
The layers of the dermis comprise the stratum papillare, which are small, sensitive vascular papillare; and the stratum reticulare, which is the connective tissue composed of collagen.
Nutrition to the skin is achieved by diffusion from the dermis to the stratum germinativum layer of the epidermis. There are two methods of diffusion: (1) diffusion of a liquid through a cell wall; and (2) diffusion of molecules through cell wall pores. Any substance, such as water, the molecules of which are smaller than the pores, can pass through those pores. The factors that determine the rate of diffusion comprise: (1) concentration gradient, i.e., from higher to lower concentration; (2) pressure gradient, i.e., from higher to lower pressure; and electrical gradient, i.e., ions are attracted or repelled by positive (+) or negative (-) charges and thus, are caused to move across a membrane. The present invention is concerned with the effects of the electrical gradient.
The human body is about one-half muscle and comprises three types of muscles: (1) voluntary-striated, skeletal muscles; (2) involuntary-smooth visceral muscles; and (3) intermediate-cardiac muscles. The present invention is concerned only with the voluntary muscles.
Muscle cells, muscle fibers, grow by enlargement not by cell division. Once a muscle fiber is destroyed it will not regenerate, however, surrounding muscle fibers may enlarge and take over its function. A decrease in muscle size due to lack of use is called "atrophy." If a muscle is re-inervated within three to four months after loss of use, full function can usually be restored, but after four months of disuse muscle fibers begin to die. After about two years of disuse, usually no function can be restored to muscles, and the muscle fibers become restricted by fat and fibrous tissue.
Each muscle fiber contains thousands of myofibrils which run parallel with the muscle fibers and are the contractile elements of the muscle fiber. Each myofibril contains myosin (thick) and actin (thin) filaments which actually cause the contraction. When an impulse for a contraction is received, crossbridges located on the myosin filaments pull like oars causing a creeping motion. Muscle response to an impulse is an "all or nothing" response. Either the impulse is strong enough to cause a contraction in a muscle fiber, or it is not strong enough. If the impulse is strong enough, the contraction will be along the entire length of the muscle fiber. The more muscle fibers that are excited, the stronger the contraction will be.
Each muscle fiber has a neuromuscular function located at the middle of the fiber. This is the point where the nerve fiber connects with the muscle fiber, and therefore, is where a muscle fiber is best stimulated. The purpose of the neuromuscular fiber is to amplify weak impulses so that they are strong enough to cause a contraction. A motor point is a point of excessive excitability. This would be a location where several neuromuscular functions were found very close to each other.
Muscle fibers are individual entities, and can act independently of each other or in conjunction with each other. Muscle fibers run the entire length of the muscle, and are separated from each other by a connective sheath called the endomysium. Muscle fibers are grouped into bundles called fasciculi. These fasciculi are separated from each other by a connective sheath called the perimysium. The fasciculi are grouped together to form muscles. Each muscle is enveloped by a connective tissue called the epimysium. Large blood vessels and nerves enter the muscle through the epimysium, and then begin to divide and branch until they supply every muscle fiber. Every muscle fiber has its own source of nutrition and stimulation. All of the muscle fibers that are stimulated by a single nerve fiber are called a "motor unit." Each motor unit contains an average of 150 muscle fibers.
Muscle tone is the normal degree of tension in a muscle at rest, or the resistance of a muscle to passive elongation or stretch. Muscle tone in the human body is created and maintained by a steady discharge of motor impulses from the brain and feedback from the spinal cord via muscle spindles. The brain, via the central nervous system, sends steady impulses to the muscle causing it to contract. Muscle spindles, which are specialized fibers in the muscle, detect the contraction and send a message to the spinal cord via the peripheral nervous system. The spinal column sends another motor impulse back to the same muscle causing another contraction. This is how tension is maintained in the muscle. As time between the impulses from the brain increases due to age, sickness or accident, the tension or tone in the muscle decreases. There are several factors that can affect muscle tone (some increase it while others decrease it). The following factors will reduce muscle tone: (1) neurologic deficiencies, such as trauma, aging, diseases, and nutritional deficiencies; (2) metabolic deficiencies, such as aging, nutritional deficiencies, and poor circulation; (3) physical effects, such as trauma, stress, environment and lifestyle; and (4) mental effects.
The following factors will increase muscle tone: (1) neurologic support, such as remove interference, physiotherapy, nutrition, and electroneurological stimulation; (2) metabolic support, such as increase circulation by electrostimulation, exercise, nutrition, iontophoresis, and massage; (3) physical support, such as electrotone and exercise tone; and (4) mental support, such as education and positive habits.
The present invention concerns use of galvanic current to increase or maintain muscle tone, and three ways that it accomplishes this is (1) circulation, i.e., nutrition by increasing circulation, the muscles are provided with the nutrients they need to maintain tonus; (2) contractions, i.e., by exciting a nerve with electrical impulses to cause a muscle to contract, the muscle may be tightened or relaxed and thus may be returned to proper tonus; and (3) cerebral effect, i.e., by exciting the nerves of the peripheral nervous system, this results in an imitation of neuro impulses from the brain which create and maintain muscle tone, and via the central nervous system to "remind" the brain to initiate more of those impulses for a period of time.
Strong prolonged contractions in a muscle lead to fatigue because of diminished circulation and metabolic process. Lactic acid is produced in the muscle during activity. Initially, this lactic acid will cause an increase in circulation, and nourishment to the muscle; but if the activity continues, the circulation is not able to remove the lactic acid and it builds up in the muscle interfering with circulation and nourishment. When the muscle does not get nourishment that it needs, it cannot perform the work and will fatigue. In the present invention fatigue is beneficial because it relaxes the muscle.
There are four different types of muscle action. The type of action is determined by the purpose of the movement; therefore, any skeletal muscle can exhibit any of the actions under the right circumstances. These four are: (1) prime mover, the action required to bring about the desired movement; (2) antagonist action, the action opposite to the prime movement, which is required to keep the prime movement smooth and controlled; (3) fixation action, the action required to hold a body part in a fixed position; and (4) synergist action, the action required if the prime mover has an undesired action, it then acts as an antagonist "emergency action."
As heretofore mentioned, this invention concerns only those muscles involving the face and the tissues overlying those muscles. The muscles of facial expression, therefore, are cutaneous lying in the subcutaneous fascia rather than the deep fascia. These muscles attach directly into the skin. Individual muscles seldom remain separate and distinct throughout their length because they merge with neighboring muscles at their attachments.
When a muscle movement occurs usually one end of the muscle stays fixed while the other end moves. The origin of a muscle is its point of fixed attachment. The insertion of a muscle is its point of movable attachment.
Iontophoresis concerns the concept of introducing various ions electrically into tissues through intact skin. It has been used to introduce medications by transporting chemicals across a membrane by using an electric current as the driving force. Generally, a direct current passing through an electrolytic solution causes ions, which are electrically charged particles dissolved or suspended in solution, to migrate according to their electric charge. Positive ions are repelled by a positive pole of the current source and attracted by the negative pole, and negative ions are repelled by the negative pole of the current source and attracted by the positive pole. Passage of the current depends upon this ionic migration, which is called "electrophoresis." Iontophoresis takes advantage of the ionization state of a drug, for instance, to push charged particles past biologic membranes. The charge on the particle is directly related to the chemical nature of the surface of the particle. That nature stems from the chemical reactions or ionization in which positively charged hydrogen ions are distributed between the surface of the particle and the liquid.
Electrical stimulation has been employed to cause contraction of muscles, as in the use of cardiac pacemakers, the treatment of chronic pain, the treatment of urinary and anal incontinence, as well as in other therapeutic applications. Generally, and as heretofore more specifically described, the electrical stimulation excites a nerve causing the propagation of an impulse and thereby evoking a behavioral response in the associated muscle, all in a manner well known.